Oh cetait le bon temps, jetais bien malheureuse. Oh, that was a good time, when I was unhappy. Sophie Arnould, the actress, accredited with the phrase. Quoted as hers by RulhièreÉpître à Monsieur de Cha.

In omni adversitate fortunæ, infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem. In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune. BoethiusDe Consolatione Philosophiæ. Bk. II. Pt. IV.

Sorrow preys uponIts solitude, and nothing more diverts itFrom its sad visions of the other worldThan calling it at moments back to this.The busy have no time for tears. ByronThe Two Foscari. Act IV. Sc. 1.

For of Fortunes sharpe adversite, The worste kynde of infortune is this,A man to hav bent in prosperite, And it remembren whan it passed is. ChaucerCanterbury Tales. Troylus and Crysseyde. Bk. III. L. 1,625.

A happier lot were mine,If I must lose thee, to go down to earth,For I shall have no hope when thou art gone,Nothing but sorrow. Father have I none,And no dear mother. HomerIliad. Bk. VI. L. 530. Bryants trans.

Ecoute, moribonde! Il nest pire douleurQuun souvenir heureux dans les jour de malheur. Listen, dying one! There is no worse sorrow than remembering happiness in the day of sorrow. Alfred de MussetLe Saule. (The opposite opinion in his Un Souvenir.)

Do not cheat thy Heart and tell her, Grief will pass away,Hope for fairer times in future, And forget to-day.Tell her, if you will, that sorrow Need not come in vain;Tell her that the lesson taught her Far outweighs the pain. Adelaide A. ProcterFriend Sorrow.

I have, as when the sun doth light a storm,Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile:But sorrow, that is couchd in seeming gladness,Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.Troilus and Cressida. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 37.

When I was young, I said to Sorrow, Come and I will play with thee! He is near me now all day, And at night returns to say,I will come again to-morrowI will come and stay with thee. Aubrey Thos. De VereSong. When I was Young I said to Sorrow.